Renewing your Membership

CRPO members are required to renew their membership on an annual basis, before the end of March each year. The renewal form for the next membership year (running April 1st to March 31st each year) is available beginning in February and can be found under the “Renewal” tab in your CRPO user account. In addition to the online renewal form, members will find their membership fee invoice for the next year under the “Invoices” tab.

Renewal forms must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on the deadline stated by the college for that particular membership year, preceded by full payment of the annual fee, including HST. Members should remember to allow at least three business days for your payment to clear the banking system before the deadline. Once the payment has cleared, you must remember to return to the online Renewal form and click “Submit” to send it to us before the 11:59 p.m. ET on the stated deadline, or risk incurring a late fee.

Members are required to maintain professional liability insurance (PLI) in the amount and in the form required under CRPO’s By-laws. Members must provide the college with written details within two days of becoming aware of not having PLI as required under the By-laws. The Registrar may suspend a member if they do not have the coverage required; audits are occasionally conducted, in which individual members will be asked for details of their coverage. More information about your annual membership renewal can be found on the Renewal page of our website; information about PLI is available on the PLI page.

Participating in the Quality Assurance Program

As a member of a regulated health profession, you are obligated to participate in the Quality Assurance (QA) Program. Every health professional registered with a regulatory body in Ontario has the same professional obligation. CRPO’s QA Program includes the following components:

Professional Development, which requires the ongoing participation of every member.

Peer and Practice Review, which includes participation of members who are randomly selected.

Professional Improvement, which involves participation in a program of remediation or specified continuing education.

A key goal of the QA Program is to engage members in a process of reflection on their professional practice, whether through a process of self-review, or review by peers. Doing so:

Helps the member to address and manage changes in the practice environment and the broader profession.

Helps to shape an environment of collaborative professionalism.

As a new member, you are required to:

Complete a Self-Assessment.

Begin a Learning Plan.

New members who have registered after September 1, 2018, must meet the new member requirements within two months of your date of initial registration.

The tools that will help you meet your new member requirements are available through your CRPO user account. Log in, click on the “QA” tab, then follow the instructions there.

Members are expected to regularly engage in learning opportunities relevant to the practice of the profession. It is required that you engage in 20 hours of learning activities in each year (or 40 hours over a span of two years). These activities must be documented in the Learning Record and you must retain documentation that can verify your participation in your own professional portfolio.

Professional Practice Standards

All CRPO members must follow the established standards for the profession. CRPO’s Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists are in place to help you practise in a competent and ethical manner. The Standards provide clear expectations, covering everything from professional conduct to record-keeping and documentation.

CRPO holds all members accountable for their conduct and practise. For more information about professional practice standards and CRPO’s regulations, visit the Standards & Regulations page of our website. You can also review the various acts, regulations and by-laws by visiting the Legislation & By-laws page of our website. If you have questions, please contact us at practice@crpo.ca.

Currency

Members in the Registered Psychotherapist category are required to maintain 750 currency hours of broadly defined activities related to psychotherapy on a rolling three-year basis.

Inactive members also need to be mindful of their currency hours. If an Inactive member is short of 750 currency hours in the three years prior to requesting to return to active practice, their request may be referred to the Registration Committee.

Members who have completed fewer than 750 currency hours in the previous three calendar years may be required to complete upgrading activities or undergo a peer and practice assessment.

The Public Register

CRPO’s Public Register can be found on our website under Find a Registered Psychotherapist. The Public Register contains information about all CRPO members and allows anyone to confirm whether a person is a member of the college, and to learn the person’s registration status, discipline history (if any) and their employment information.

Members can be searched by:

First Name

Last Name

Language

City

Province or State

Postal or Zip Code

Each search filter used further narrows down the results. It is important to note that if you checked the box “Do not publish my language” during registration, anyone searching the Public Register using, for example, the “English” language filter, would not be able to find you because you have not published your language of practice.

It is important for members to check their information on the Public Register to ensure that all the information listed is up-to-date and to alert CRPO as soon as possible of any changes. For more detailed information about what is and is not included on the Public Register, please visit the Find a Registered Psychotherapist page of our website. If you notice any changes that need to be made or have questions about the Public Register or your record, please fill out and upload the Public Register Update form.

Professional Credentials

CRPO members are accountable to the College for the quality of care they provide and for their professional conduct. Only individuals who are registered with CRPO are able to use the title “psychotherapist”, “Registered Psychotherapist,” or any abbreviation or variation thereof in any language, or to hold themself out as qualified to practise as a psychotherapist in Ontario (no matter what title they use).

Members of CRPO must use the titles conferred by the College when acting in a professional capacity.

Your title is conferred when you become registered with the College. Your Certificate of Registration will identify the category in which you registered and the corresponding title to use when you communicate to others that you are a registered member of CRPO.

For example:

If you hold a Certificate of Registration in the Registered Psychotherapist category, the appropriate title to use in your written or verbal communications with others is “Registered Psychotherapist” or its acronym, “RP.”

If you hold a Certificate of Registration in the Qualifying category, the appropriate title to use is “Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)” or “RP (Qualifying).”

A complete list of the registration categories and their corresponding titles is available in Standard 1.2: Use of Terms, Titles and Designations in CRPO’s Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists.

When you convey your name, title and other credentials in your written communications with others, including clients, colleagues and anyone else with whom you interact in a professional capacity, your title should appear prominently beside your name (e.g. Jane Doe, RP).

Where members develop print materials, subscribe to directory listings, or are listed by various professional associations, it is the member’s responsibility to ensure their designation is correctly presented. Our regulatory requirement that the designation is correctly presented serves public safety by letting potential and existing clients know that you adhere to standards of practice, including professional accountability and professional development. In addition, your correct use of the designation will contribute to building awareness among other health care providers and other stakeholders of the professional standards associated with belonging to a statutory regulatory body.

If you haven’t already reviewed your written materials, including business cards, practice-related templates and forms (such as invoices, service agreements and handouts), websites and office signage, consider doing so since appropriate use of the title is necessary when you’re acting in a professional capacity.

To learn more about advertising and representing yourself and your services, review Standard 6.2 of CRPO’s Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists.

If you have any questions about using your professional credentials or advertising, please contact QA@crpo.ca.

Use of Specialty Titles

Members are permitted to use terms, titles and designations conferred by third parties, along with their regulated title, if:

The title is not honorary and was not awarded purely based on attendance at a course or workshop. The member must have acquired knowledge and skill, i.e. competence, associated with the term, title or designation, generally having completed a professional education and training program that included study, mastery and evaluation.

It is conferred by a recognized credentialing body, i.e. one that is broadly recognized within the profession as legitimate.

It meets established standards, i.e. standards that are broadly recognized within the profession as legitimate.

Prominence is given to the member’s regulated title.

These conditions will enable members to use terms, titles and designations that are meaningful and generally recognized by the profession. Members should be aware that specialty titles used inappropriately could result in misconduct complaints to the College.

Registered Psychotherapists will not be permitted to use the title Doctor or its abbreviation Dr. in a clinical setting (i.e. when working with clients or with other professionals in a health care setting), or when supervising students who are working with clients. Members will be able to use the title Doctor (Dr.) in purely academic settings and in their personal/social lives. This rule, limiting the use of the Doctor (Dr.) title, is found in the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, which sets out the professions whose members are permitted to use the title.

Professional Misconduct

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) regulates its members in order to protect the public. As part of this public protection, CRPO has a zero tolerance policy for any form of sexual abuse or sexual boundary crossing by members.

Any act of sexual abuse on the part of a CRPO member is a misuse of power and a betrayal of trust. Sexual abuse is an extremely serious form of professional misconduct that can result in loss of registration and/or other mandatory penalties.

The Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) defines sexual abuse not only as any physical sexual contact, but also includes actions such as sexually suggestive comments and jokes made by a member in the presence of a client.

The RHPA states that “sexual abuse” means:

sexual intercourse or other forms of physical sexual relations between the member and the client,

touching, of a sexual nature, of the client by the member, or

behaviour or remarks of a sexual nature by the member towards the client.

“Sexual nature” does not include touching, behaviour or remarks of a clinical nature appropriate to the service provided.

Complaints and Concerns

CRPO members are expected to practise at all times with integrity and professionalism. Members should refrain from illegal conduct related to the practice of the profession, as well as from knowingly practising while your ability to do so is impaired by any condition or substance. In addition, members must refrain from conduct that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded as disgraceful, dishonourable, unprofessional, or unbecoming a member of the profession.

Should a complaint be filed against you, you are obligated to fully cooperate with the College during an investigation of yourself or another member. It is expected that you will cooperate in a timely manner, including providing access to facilities, records, or equipment relevant to the investigation. You must also exhibit appropriate behaviour during the investigation and not subject the investigator to rude, threatening or obstructionist behaviour. Similarly, once evidence of the appointment of a formal investigator by another college is made known to you, you are obligated to cooperate with that investigator. This responsibility reinforces the member’s obligation to assist that college in protecting the public by investigating any complaint or report. More information can be found in Section 1: Professional Conduct of the Professional Practice Standards for Registered Psychotherapists. If you have questions about the complaints process, please visit the Filing a Complaint About a Member section of our website or contact us at complaints@crpo.ca.

Mandatory Reporting

One requirement of being a member of a regulatory body is self-reporting certain events to the college, such as a finding of professional negligence or malpractice in any jurisdiction, a refusal by a regulatory body to issue registration or a license, change of name or contact information, etc. As a CRPO member you are also required to report certain information about another member to the College, such as if you have reasonable grounds to believe another member practised unsafely, that they have sexually abused a client, etc.

For more detail about what needs to be reported to the College, please visit the Mandatory Reporting page of our website. If you have any questions about these reports, please contact us at complaints@crpo.ca.

ABOUT US

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) regulates its members in the public interest. CRPO is established under the Psychotherapy Act, 2007 and the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991.Read more

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ACCESSIBILITY

CRPO is committed to providing accessible services, information and communication to individuals with disabilities. Accommodation will be customized to each person according to their needs. If you require an accessible service, format and/or communication support, please contact us at info@crpo.ca or 1-844-712-1364.Read more